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THE MEDIA AFRICA ANNUAL_digital

22 EAST Africa
Kenya – Emerging through
the storms
The Kenyan media landscape has become dynamic and diverse thanks to forward-thinking
government Tpolicies and accomplishments in the mobile sphere.
he United Nations’
World Population
Prospects
estimated the
2015 population
of Kenya to be about
46 050 000. More than
80% of the population
is under 40; only 25%
of the population is
urbanised. Adult illiteracy
is low at about 27%;
the sub-Saharan Africa
average is 38%. Whilst the
Ministry of Information,
Communications and
Technology has identified
53 distinct community
languages, there are two official
languages - Kiswahili and English.
The Kenyan Bureau of Statistics
(KNBS) provisional GDP estimate for
First Quarter 2016, is 5.9%, up from
5.0% in Q1 2015. The Ernst & Young
Africa Attractiveness Index 2016
ranked the country fourth, after South
Africa, Morocco and Egypt. It is little
wonder that Kenya serves as a hub
for the East African marketing and
advertising industry.
Barack Obama described Kenya
as a “country on the move”, and
it has certainly moved swiftly to
become one of Africa’s tech leaders.
A forward thinking government
Information and Communications
Technology (ICT) policy encouraged
the development of ICT infrastructure.
Print is challenging
Print remains under pressure
unsurprisingly in a country of
mobile-attached youngsters. There
are 6 dailies, 7 weeklies, scores of
regional newspapers, and more
than 25 magazines, but daily reach
of print is 8%.
The largest circulating
newspapers are Sunday
Nation, Daily Nation,
Standard, Star and People.
In its 2015 Annual Report,
The Standard Group
acknowledged the problem
of declining circulation,
which it is attempting to
tackle via “creative selling”,
revamping and redesigning.
A print success story is the
Nairobian, launched in 2013.
The newspaper runs a column,
The Nairobian Defender,
dealing with unresolved public
complaints. It has attracted
new readers and increased
circulation to over 100 000!
TV teritory
Unfortunately, Kenya’s migration
to Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT)
was fraught with problems. The most
problematic issue, however, was the
Communications Authority’s (CA)
decision to issue only two broadcast
signal distributor licences.
The intention was to allow
broadcasters to share transmitters
and “develop content and not
invest in expensive infrastructure”.
THEMEDIA AFRICA ANNUAL 2016
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